The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-22
Business VS.. Sentiment.


We live under the reign of law. The
obligations imposed on us by the written
statutes are not more binding than the
laws of the social and business world
which link:us to our fellows. indeed,
the statute law is void and of no effect
unless the higher prescriptions of public
sentiment and popular feeling run par
allel with it. He who assumes the man
tie of citizenship steps out from the pro-
lection of home and exposes himself to
the attack of forces relentless and pow
erful as those which dominate the mate
rial world. Without fault Of our own
we may see competition bear away the
prize for which we have struggled in
vain for wears we may see our business
ruined by an ADLER or richer man who
avails himself Of forces unknown to US.
The secret Of success in business lies in
the utilization of the influences which
control the situation, as the same power
over natural forces parks the superiority
of the civilized man over the savage.
Fearful as the hurricane. irresponsible
to moral influences as the principles
which uphold the planets in their spheres,
the laws of business take hold of all
deprsss the good, grind down the weak
and elevate the proud, without regard to
the voice of pity or the claims of justice.
They are resistless as the march of an
army-they crush the soldiers who serve
under the banners of peace between the
upper and neither millstones of progress
and competition.
The victory is not always TO the wise
or to the strong; he who bears the crown
to-day may see his plume trailed in the
dust of defeat tomorrow. To him who
asks pity amid this war of the social ele-
ments no ear gives heed; the wounded
warrior receives help only after he
has crawled from the dust of the
conflict and the battle has passed
him by. To the weakIing who
cries out in pain or fear we
give only disdainful pity, as to the SOL
der who shrinks from the task he has
undertaken, and wo be to him who en-
tiers such a struggle unarmed, unframed
or deficient in strength.
Into this business whirlwind the negro
was pushed, by the pity of those who
knew him not. When work houses are
insufficient to cover with charity the
soldiers Of a stronger race who have
proven themselves too weak to face
tGa fov han theaS of al no
great cities are filled with those who
hide in trembling fear and accept starva-
ton as the alternative rather than renew
the fight at such a time, unframed and
unarmsd, a people untitled by nature
and softened by generations of protec-
ton, is placed between the upper and
neither millstones and required to play a
part in the business of the world. The
situation is accepted, and henceforth the
negro must stand alone as does the
white or disappear as does the Indian.
There Is no middle ground. If he cannot
make himself equal to his competitors he
must go down. In the Old South he was
protected; in the New South each citizen
must play his part as the Confederacy
made every man a soldier, and from his
part in the new conflict the negro cannot
shrink. 1t is for this war those who
knew him best have always considered
him unfit. But his place has been made
for him, and he must stand there till he
falls. He is surrounded by all the forces
Of the age as the magician is by the dev-
lie he has invoked; if he cannot control
them they will destroy him. Competi-
ton is in front of and around him, star
veal the issue.